League of Legends

Welcome to a new series of articles which will present to you the 5 top players from EU-West in each of the 5 common roles in League of Legends. This will cover not just the rank in solo queue, but also and more importantly individual skill and capabilities. This first week of the series will feature the AP carries dwelling in the middle lane and the rest will follow in the near future.

After a lot of thought the #1 spot is given to Henrik 'Froggen' Hansen, AP carry for Counter Logic Gaming EU, who is highly regarded as one of the main reasons for the team’s success in most online tournaments in the last few months. Although his current solo queue ELO is “only” 2330, you will hardly ever see him lose the mid lane for his team. If you have ever watched a couple of his matches, you probably know his best champion is Anivia. The walls and stuns he provides with her are so gamebreaking that most teams regard her as a must-ban against Counter Logic Gaming EU. Whoever doesn’t ban her is just asking for the defeat screen at the end of the game.

What’s curious about his play with her, is his usual build. Tear of the Goddess, Warmog’s Armor and Mejai’s Soulstealer – pretty non standard as you can see. However, it works for him because he just knows the champion and her strengths better than anyone else. Another champion he excels at playing is Ahri. Whenever he lands her Charm - something that happens rather often - the kill is always secured. Another thing that can be said about Henrik 'Froggen' Hansen is that he pioneered the magic resist marks because of the farming-orientated meta that currently dominates competitive play. His innovation was copied by most of the other AP carry players, something like that certainly backs up his position as number 1 this week.

Second place goes to Moscow Five ’s Alexey 'Alex Ich' Ichetovkin, though I’m sure there are a lot of people who think he is the best out there since his team dominated the last two IEM tournaments. His amazing skills with Mordekaizer and Ryze impressed the entire audience in Kiev and Hannover, as well as all the viewers sitting at home. We should really highlight his “flash-snare-GG” plays with Ryze in Kiev – they put a whole new light on the champion and got him recognized as one of the strongest magic damage carries. Alex showed that there is just no real counter to Ryze and that he partners very well the extremely popular Shyvana, a champion that has lots of damage but a dire lack of crowd control. Alexey 'Alex Ich' Ichetovkin is an awesome lane pusher but is also very good at farming under his tower when the situation demands it. His current solo queue ELO is 2478. This gives him a spot in the top 15 even though he has been in hospital ever since the IEM World Championship. Apparently, even with him out of the game for a month, not a lot of people can get on his level. As Moscow Five hasn’t participated in most of the last tournaments because of his absence, it is with eager anticipation that his fans await to see him in action again, and check if he has lost any of his sharpness.

It’s Maik 'MoMa' Wallus from against All authority who occupies the third spot. A prominent figure in the scene, he never stopped to amaze people with his gameplay ever since the Season 1 Championship. At one point he had stated that he doesn’t have enough time for competitive play and he wants to focus on his studies, but luckily he changed his mind and continued to please all of League of Legends fans with his presence. At the beginning of the year he reunited with his team and brought success back to them. One of his best champions and a very common ban against him is Karthus. With nicely placed walls of pain and ults at the right time, he is a really scary beast with his trademark champion. Another favourite of his is Anivia. Maik 'MoMa' Wallus may not be as godly as Henrik 'Froggen' Hansen with her, but that doesn’t mean he won't stun you, lock you out, slow you and flash frost you until you die. His solo queue ELO of 2297 is nowhere near reflecting the incredible amount of skill this young German player has, and the experience he brings to his team.

Enrique Javier 'xPeke' Cede&ntilde;o Martinez from Fnatic gets the fourth spot. Through all of the team’s ups and downs he remained the one steady force. While he dwelled in Maciej 'Shushei' Ratuszniak’s shadow at Dreamhack, he has been shining brightly ever since and showed unwavering form and amazing plays for both for his team and in solo queue. He currently has 2474 ELO and holds the 12th place in the ultra-competitive EUw ladder. Even the Korean players in the OGN tournament have recognized him as a force to be reckoned with and targeted him with Anivia and Twisted Fate bans. It is rather hard to outban him though as he plays on equally good level with almost every champion – from Kassadin and Cassiopeia to Vladimir and Morgana. He probably fancies playing Twisted Fate the most at the moment, as that champion best suits his playstyle. Great pushing and splitpushing abilities and very strong ganking potential are right up xPeke's alley. He makes this champion useful even when he goes 4/10 – Team Dignitas can tell you all about that after they witnessed a certain victory slip from their hands at the IEM World Championship. Enrique Javier 'xPeke' Cede&ntilde;o Martinez’s constant usage of his ult for the sake of bringing down inhibitors at the cost of his life played a large part in that defeat.

The fifth spot goes to SK Gaming ’s very own Carlos 'ocelote' Rodr&iacute;guez Santiago, but don’t think he is any less amazing than the rest. As the team captain and the biggest inspiration for his team, he has made sure to never lose his good form. He is the type of person who loves aggressive plays and has stated numerous times that he doesn’t like the current farming-orientated meta. His preferred champions are Cassiopeia and Kassadin as they just perfectly fit in his playstyle. Especially his Cassiopeia is notorious and a must-ban for anyone facing him – you can ask against All authority about that after they lost a baron and a whole game at the IEM World Championship because of an amazing through-the-baron-wall ult from 'ocelote' . Even the man himself says that the snake-lady is “the most powerful” in his hands. He was chosen to do a live teaching for the champion at IEM Kiev, too. It’s hard to state his current ELO in solo queue as he plays every day for so many hours, but at the time of writing this article it is 2299 with the strong possibility of rising with every game.

So this is it with the strongest AP carries in EU-West for this week. Make sure to check back next Sunday for the next top 5 players, probably in the AD carry role.

Disclaimer: This is only my humble opinion on this matter and I’m in no way forcing it on anybody. Feel free to disagree with me and post your rankings in the comments section below!